Method of forming ends of railway-rails for splicing.



No. 672,769 Patented Apr. 23, I90l. J. s. HOLME. METHOD OF FORMING ENDS? 0F RAILWAY RAILS FO KSPLICING.

(Application filed Feb. 23, 1901.)

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Patented Apr. 23, MM. J. S. HDLME. METHOD OF FORMING ENDS 0F RAILWAY RAILS FOR SPLICING.

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Patented Apr. 23, IBM. J. S. HOLME. METHOD OF FORMING ENDS 0F RAILWAY RAILS FUR SPLICING.

(Applicatioq filed Feb. 23, 1901.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN STANLEY HOLME, OF MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

.METHQD OF FORMING ENDS OF RAILWAY-RAILS FOR SPLICING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672,7 69, dated April 23, 1901.

Application filed February 23, 1901. Serial No. 48,407. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JOHN STANLEY HOLME, iron and steel merchant, asubject of the King of Great Britain, residing. at Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Forming the Ends of Railway- Rails for Splicing and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of railway or tramway rail scarf or lap joints when the two ends are overlapped or jointed together, the same width as the ordinary head or base of the rail. The making of this kind of joint in the manner above described has been found in practice to be seriously detrimental to the steel, inasmuch as by bending the rail ends back and then planing away part of the metal it destroys the continuity of the fiber, and consequently makes the rail endsor joints weak.

Now theobject of the present invention is i to manufacture rails with this oblique form of scarf-joint and at the same time avoid the objections commonly urged again st such joints, among which may be mentioned that they are .structurally weak, owing to the planing away of the metal, which destroys the continu ity of the metallic fiber andare costly to manufacture.

' The invention is also applicable for making switchrt'ongues.

In carrying the invention into eifect I heat the rail ends and then swage or press the heated end portions ofthe rail between dies or swages, so as to forma lap or scarf joint.

This is effected in a hydraulic press or by a ing the joint.

steam-hammer or the like in such a manner that the web is obliquely deflected laterally at the ends of the rails, which overlap in form- Furthermore, a part of the metal which is displaced by the pressing is overlapping rails.

pressed into the web and taperof the .rail end, thus thickening and strengthening it. This enables what would otherwise be the weakest portion of the railna1nely, the taperto be as strong as the ordinary section of rail, as by my method of swaging or pressing the rail ends they undergo considerable compression, and thus the particles are brought into closer and more intimate contact, with a corresponding increase in tensile strength, ductility, and compactness of surface, and, besides, the parts so compressed are reinforced by the addition of surplus metal pressed into them. This enables the rail ends to resist the same amount of heavy wear as the other portion of the rail. By this invention, therefore, the rail is made as strong or stronger at the splice than at any other part instead of being weaker, and, further, I do away entirely with separate fishplates, as the securing-bolts pass through slotted holes in the webs of the This imparts strength to the rail at the splice, and each rail end is rigidly supported at the joint by the adjacent rail, and thus the rails throughout the entire length of the permanent way mutually support each other and provide a thoroughly-smooth railway-track.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred mechanism for carrying out the improved method is fully illustrated.

In the drawings, Figure l is a general View of a swaging-press, with dies removed, for swaging or pressing the heated end portions of the rails; Fig. 2, a general view of the dies for bull-headed railway-rails; Fig. 3, a crosssection through these dies when in use, taken on line g h of Fig. 2, before being closed together; Fig. 4, the same, showing the dies closed together; Fig. 5, a perspective view of two railwayrail ends after having been pressed or swaged at ends to form the joint; Fig. 6, a detail view of the dies for making tramway-rails of standard section; Fig. 7, a view of these dies at end lettered c, Fig. 6, when closed together; Fig. 8, a similar view of the end lettered d; Fig. 9, a perspective view of the ends of two tramway-rails after having been pressed or swaged at ends to form the joint; Fig. 10, a detail view of the dies for making switch-tongues, also a switchtongue made by the said dies.

. cross-heads in which the dies are mounted and secured. The figure shows three cross-heads, one for holding the die acting on bottom of rail and two for supporting the rail and acting upon its sides. One of these cross-heads, B, is a fixture and the other two, B, are movable by hydraulic rams in the cylinders A. Though three dies are shown, it is obvious I do not confine myself to that number, as one, two, or any other number may be used.

Figs. 2, 3, and 4: show dies suitable for making railway-rail joints of the bull-head pattern. These are mounted in the cross-heads of the press and secured by passing bolts through holes B They are so made and opcrate as to form the rail ends (shown in Fig. 5) and not only deflect the web obliquely at:

the ends, but also compress the whole taper of the rail, so that its particles are brought .the rail required to be dealtwith, and thus prevent any escapement of metal at that end during the pressing, while at E the two dies begin to obliquely deflectthe web laterally,

so as to produce the oblique splice e. The head and base are gradually tapered off to an S curve, and by means of the projecting parts F F on the two dies the head is comtion of the rail required to be dealt with, while the remainder of the dies deflect the web and compress both the web and the head and base, so as to bring the particles into closer and more intimate contact, with corresponding increase of tensile strength, ductility, and compactness of surface. Furthermore,this pressing forces a part of the metal to fiow forward and be pressed into the web and taper of the rails, so as to reinforce them and, in fact, make the ovelapping part f thicker than the main Web. Any surplus metal, such as J, flows out at the gits or channels I and is nipped off. The parts F and I are so formed as to press the head and'base of the rail out through the gits, leaving the part f, which is straight and not oblique like the tapered part c, intact. Of course the displacement gets less and less toward the other end of the dies at D, and finally disappearing altogether. At this point the swages envelop the rail. The rails when they are forged by the dies at one end are taken from the press and the other end heated and then forged at the opposite end. The appearance of the rail ends when completed are set forth in Fig. 5, in which 6 is the taper or reinforced web obliquely deflected laterally out of line with the main web n, so that the line of the web at this point does not follow the longitudinal axis of the rail. The part f, which is also reinforced in thickness, is in a different plane to the longitudinal axis of the rail, but parallel thereto.

In making tramway-rails of standard section I have found it desirable to use three dies, as shown in Fig. 6-one, O, for acting on bottom of the rail, which I prefer to forge head downward, and two, P Q, for supporting the rails and for acting on its sides. The swage P is a fixture and the swages O and Q, which are mounted in cross-heads attached to hydraulic rams, do the displacement of the flange and the nipping off of the side that has to be removed. The dotted lines in Fig. 6 show the way in which the swages come together in their working positions. They are simply opened out in the manner indicated, so that the working face can be seen. The groove in the rail being out of the center, the tram-rail will require right and left hand swages. Right and left hand-swages are also generally required in the case of railway rails. The arrows show the direction of m0- tion of the swages. The diesin this case also compress the metal at'the ends, thus bringing the metallic fibers into closer and more intimate contact, and at the same time causing the surplus metal to flow toward the end, so as to reinforce or thicken the overlapping parts of the Web, any excess of .metal being forced out by the dies and nipped off as surplus. The rail completely formed by these diesis shown in 9. The dies may be soarranged as to punch holes in the heated rail ends at the same time as they are being pressed. This may be effected by forming projecting studs on one die projecting into holes on the opposite die. l

Fig. 10 shows the dies for making switchtongues for bull-headed rails, in which G is the die for, acting on one side of the rail and H the die for acting on the other side thereof. T is the tongue formed by the dies. The dies G and H are made at D, so as to fit the section of the rail required to be dealt with, and thus prevent any escapement of metal at that end during the pressing, while at E the die G begins to form the oblique or tapering face of v l wholly or in part the surplus metal from the thicker or wider portion of the heated rail, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed r5 my name, this 13th day of February, 1901, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN STANLEY HOLMEA Witnesses:

G. O. DYMOND, F. P. EVANS. 

